Pier 1

Working with many regulatory and review agencies, Pier 1’s developer, a real estate investment trust (REIT) that specializes in industrial properties, converted a pier warehouse into a seismically safe and technologically modern office complex and added more than one acre (0.4 hectare) of public space to San Francisco’s waterfront. In the aftermath of the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, an elevated freeway that had cut off the city from 3,800 feet (1,158 meters) of its waterfront was demolished, prompting the city to launch a waterfront land use plan that aimed to extend downtown directly to the water’s edge. Pier 1 is the first redevelopment project initiated under this ambitious plan. It preserves a historic waterfront landmark for maritime-related use, and symbolizes the transformation of San Francisco’s old economy in favor of the new.